Hooded Crows & Housecats : weird behaviour

[Abramelin]

I didn't even know what title to give this post.

Watch the next Russian (?) video, I think it's amazing:

What the hell were these crows up to??

[libstaK]

Yeh, what are those crows up to? I can only guess.

My surmisal though

- the cats know each other, they are mates and play rough all the time.

- I say this because of the way the tail was swishing on the white cat, it was playful and encouraging.

- My cats do this all the time - and the Tomcat does it to me, when he wants me to play, if I ignore him, he starts tearing up and down the stairs and bouncing off the walls .

- The crows may have observed this in the past and enjoyed it OR

- The crows may have seen the possibility of a "free meal" from the loser of the cat fight - destined for dissappointment me thinks

OR my personal fave idea

- they are all mates crows and cats and this a regular routine for play with them all

Edited April 14, 2012 by libstaK

[karmakazi]

It looks like they are after the one cat's tail

[Lilly]

Shsssh...First rule of fightclub...Never talk about fightclub.

[Kryso]

Maybe a hatchling has fallen out of a nearby tree and the crows (parents) are trying to keep the cats back. Then the cats start fighting over it?

[Ealdwita]

I've no idea why they do it, but I've seen footage of ravens acting the same way with wolves.

[Mike G]

Amazing timing between the action and the music.

[Simbi Laveau]

Yeh, what are those crows up to? I can only guess.

My surmisal though

- the cats know each other, they are mates and play rough all the time.

- I say this because of the way the tail was swishing on the white cat, it was playful and encouraging.

- My cats do this all the time - and the Tomcat does it to me, when he wants me to play, if I ignore him, he starts tearing up and down the stairs and bouncing off the walls .

- The crows may have observed this in the past and enjoyed it OR

- The crows may have seen the possibility of a "free meal" from the loser of the cat fight - destined for dissappointment me thinks

OR my personal fave idea

- they are all mates crows and cats and this a regular routine for play with them all

My cats never fight this rough.It looks like 2 time fighting in a territorial way.

The crows are just wild.It makes me think all those bad animal movies,where actors dub in the animals talking ,are real.

The crows are chatting and egging on the cats.

Imagine it:bird 1 DON'T THAT THAT FROM HIM BLACKIE ! HE'S A CANDY A55 .

Bird 2

Oh shut up,just get the tail,and blackie will leave us alone.he said so !

[Abramelin]

Try to imagine that you and a friend try to grab the tail of a lion, tame or wild.

Then try the same when two lions are fighting.

[Timothy]

If you guys haven't seen this it's definitely worth watching!! (I'm not sure if there's a video with better sound quality sorry!)

So maybe they're all friends in the OP!!

[Oniomancer]

I don't know but if you've ever seen smaller birds chasing larger birds away from their nests, that pretty close to what they do, fly up and peck 'em in the backside. The small ones do it to the crows and the crows in turn do it to hawks and vultures.

[Abramelin]

I don't know but if you've ever seen smaller birds chasing larger birds away from their nests, that pretty close to what they do, fly up and peck 'em in the backside. The small ones do it to the crows and the crows in turn do it to hawks and vultures.

I think this is a somewhat different situation. The crows are interfering in a catfight, or it looks that way.

Or they don't care about any catfight, and they don't want a piece of tail-meat, and maybe the crows were a breeding couple and did anything they could to tease and chase the cats away to defend their own young in some tree nearby.

[TheLastLazyGun]

Just email Chris Packham. He'll know what the crows are up to.

Viewers send in such strange animal videos to the BBC series Springwatch and the BBC series Autumnwatch, and Packham usually solves the mystery.

Edited April 16, 2012 by TheLastLazyGun

[Abramelin]

Just email Chris Packham. He'll know what the crows are up to.

Viewers send in such strange animal videos to the BBC series Springwatch and the BBC series Autumnwatch, and Packham usually solves the mystery.

I think I've seen this guy on the BBC here in Holland. I read up on his bio on his "Biog" just now, lol, and he started his life like I did: my room was also kind of a 'zoo': toads, frogs, salamanders, spiders, turtles, jackdaws. OK, I didn't have all these critters at the same time, but still. If I had to start all over again, I would do things differently (yeah, I know it's the most boring cliche around, sigh) and study biology on a university level.

Anyway, I think the explanation of that weird behaviour is what I posted in my former post.

For those who like an experiment: take a black cloth in your hand while walking near a crow's roost during breeding season. If you have ever seen "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock, you will experience a 'deja vu'.

.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Abramelin